Group A
Jeremy Brugger
James Klein
Anthony Knollhoff
Sam Reinhardt
Diane Torneire
An Analysis of Internet Tools Used by :
espn.go.com
www.cbssports.com
sports.yahoo.com
sportsillustrated.cnn.com

- -Supplement to ESPN TV station
 -Up-to-date streaming & coverage of all sports

- Off-shoot of SI Magazine
- Pictures of athletes & swim suit models
- In-depth reports by acclaimed ariters
- Branch Site to Yahoo!!
- Fantasy sports leader


▪
- Extension of CBS TV station – features anchors
-Up-to-date news with some fantasy sports
 ALL- POSITIVE MESSAGE ABOUT COMPANY
Website
Main
Growing
Males, Aged 15-40
Females
Males, Aged 15-40
Even More Males
(swimsuit issues)
Males, Aged 15-40
Females
Males, Aged 15-40
Females
Website
All
Traditional Sales
Affiliate Marketing &
Advertising
Pro-team merchandise
& magazine
subscriptions
Links to its parent company,
Disney, & sister company,
ABC
Pro-team merchandise
& magazine
subscriptions
Links to its parent companies,
CNN & Time Warner
Pro-team merchandise
Links to its parent company,
Yahoo!, & fantasy sports
groups
Pro-team merchandise
Fantasy sports groups
Links to Other Blogs (tbd later)

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
ESP – Bold, technical, & familiar (resembles
Sportscenter)
SI.com – Simple, easy.
– Focus on (& adds for)
fantasy sports groups.
–Dull, disorganized
Sports News Is Constant
 Quick Way to Report
 Allows Reader Participation
 Anyone Can Blog


2 MAIN GROUPS:
1.
Only Employees Blog & Readers Leave
Comments
- ESPN &
2.
Employees & Readers Blog
- I.com &
Website
ESP
Set-Up
Main Page of All Blogs for All Sports
(Employee Only)
(Employee Only)
Blog Page for Each Sport & Blogs Are
Listed Chronologically within
SI.com
Sponsors Separate Site for Blogs Only.
(Anyone)
(Anyone)
Main Page for All Blogs that Can Be
Sorted by Sport, Title, or Blogger

2 MAIN GROUPS:
1. Bloggers (Employees) cannot disclose
proprietary info, slander company or its
employees, use inappropriate language
- ESP &
2. Bloggers (Anyone) must read & agree to lengthy
terms, including the above, plus no false
impersonation, no harassment, & everything
posted is property of website.
- SI.com &
Website
I.D. Type
Picture, Bio, & Resume .
(Employee Only)
Full name.
(Employee Only)
(Internet Search to Find the Rest.)
(Anyone)
Employees - Not Available on Site (Internet Search to Find It.)
Non-Employees – Available to “Friends”
Employees – Bio’s
Non-Employees – Depends on Blogger
(Anyone)

▪
▪
▪
- Majority criticize ESPN, others post
best/worst ESPN commercials
- Majority criticize
Yahoo!Sports.com, some are favorable
SI.com -Majority repeat SI.com stories,
most bloggers are male
- Majority are those of other CBS
channels, some criticize CBS’s sports
coverage.

Facebook & Twitter
 Provide new and breaking stories
 Provide links back to their site

LinkedIn:
 Provides an interface with potential employees
along with company information

Fantasy Sports
 Provide value and reason to increase repeat visits
to their site

Twitter
 All four companies use these in much the same
way
▪ They provide headlines and a link to the full story on
their site.
▪ ESPN,CBS Sports, and SI all update their accounts
through an API (Application Programming Interface)
▪ Yahoo Sports has multiple users that update content
 There are no visible policies other than those
enforced by Twitter (i.e.; character limits)

Facebook
 Through the use of Facebook Pages:
▪ They provide more information related to the companies
▪ Provide news articles with a snippet of the news story and
a link back to the full article on their site
 They also utilize other features on Facebook, such
as:
▪ Discussion boards, photos, videos, audio, etc.
 There are no visible policies other than those
enforced by Facebook

LinkedIn
 Provides a Human Resources interface with
potential and current employees
 More company-focused than CareerBuilder or
Monster
 Due to the limited ability for customization
ESPN, SI and the parent companies of Yahoo!
Sports and CBS Sports use this site the same way

Fantasy Sports
 Provides sports fanatics with a place to
congregate, talk about, and manage their own
sports team(s).
 Through private and public leagues participants
keep returning to edit rosters, picks, etc.
 ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, CBS Sports all offer leagues
for MLB, NFL, NASCAR, collegiate sports, etc
▪ While SI offers fantasy sports related content it doesn’t
actually have fantasy sports leagues

All 4 companies feature unique websites to attract
readers, but setups are similar
 ESPN has established a model for competitors to follow

Blogging is prevalent within the sports media
industry – providing up-to-date commentary on
sporting events
 ESPN and Yahoo! by staff
 CBS and SI allow readers to blog themselves

Social Networking tools have become widely used
in similar manners by all 4 companies

Guidelines to Emerging Sports Media Companies:
 Follow the market leaders
▪ Create an engaging website
▪ Provide readers with access to blogs
▪ Keep audience informed real time with updates via Facebook and
Twitter
 Offer something new or something for free that the others
don’t
▪ Stay informed with new technologies so to be the first to offer
something new (like Yahoo! with fantasy sports)
▪ Prizes and value are always a way to attract new customers
QUESTIONS??
http://www.stlrcga.org/x1849.xml
39 More Days Until Opening Day
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- http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/9599.asp
http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/top-10-sports-websites-december-2009-11847/
http://www.sgma.com/press/3_U.S.-Sports-Industry%3A-Nearly-a-%2470-Billion-Business
http://espnmediazone.com/documents/20090804_Blog_Policy.htm.
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/Yahoo!/Yahoo!-blog-guidelines.pdf.
http://biz.stats.com/client.asp
http://www.thestreet.com/_tscrss/tech/jonathanberr/10245259.html
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/9599.asp
http://espn.go.com/
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
http://sports.yahoo.com/
http://www.cbssports.com/
Additional Links:
Facebook ▪ Yahoo!: www.facebook.com/Yahoo!sports?v=app_7146470109
▪ ESPN: www.facebook.com/ESPN?v=info
▪ SI: www.facebook.com/SportsIllustrated
▪ CBS Sports: www.facebook.com/CBSSports
Twitter ▪ Yahoo! Sports: http://twitter.com/Yahoo!/sports
▪ ESPN: http://twitter.com/eSPN
▪ SI: http://twitter.com/SI_24seven
▪ CBS Sports: http://twitter.com/CBSsports
LinkedIn ▪
▪
▪
▪
Yahoo!!: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/1288
ESPN: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/espn?trk=co_search_results&goback=.cps_1266463776304_1
SI: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/sports-illustrated?trk=co_search_results&goback=.cps_1266463776305_1
CBS Interactive: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/268213
Millions
Monthly Unique Site Visits - 2009
30
25
20
15
10
5
Yahoo Sports
ESPN
CBS Sports
Sports Illustrated